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MEMORANDUM 

IN BE 

WHITE-SLAVE TRADE 



Printed by order of 

Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce 


James R. Mann, Chairman 


Irving P. Wanger 
Frederick C. Stevens 
John J. Esch 
Charles E. Townsend 
James Kennedy 
Joseph R. Knowland 
William P. Hubbard 
James M. Miller 
William H. Stafford 


William M. Calder 
Charles G. Washburn 
William C. Adamson 
William Richardson 
Charles L. Bartlett 
Gordon Russell 
Thetus W. Sims 
Andrew J. Peters 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1909 




































































■ > 












MEMORANDUM REGARDING WHITE-SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


AS TO VALIDITY OF PROPOSED ACT. 

It is no longer open to question that the transit of individuals from 
State to State is interstate commerce. The statement in Mayor v. 
Miln (11 Pet.. 102) that persons are not the subject of commerce was 
overruled in the Passenger Cases (7 How.. 429, 432, 436) in the opin¬ 
ion of Justice Wayne, holding that the statement to that effect in the 
Miln case was dictum and was not adopted by the majority of the 
court. (See further. Mobile County r. Kimball, 102 U. S., 692; 
Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 IT. S., 190; Pickard r. Pull¬ 
man Southern Car Co., 117 IJ. S., 34; Covington & C. Bridge Co. v. 
Kentucky. 154 tJ. S., 204.) Indeed the mere transit of persons arriv¬ 
ing at our ports of entry is without reference to traffic the subject of 
congressional regulation, because it is commerce. (Head Money Cases, 
112 U. S., 580; Nishimura Ekiu v. U. S., 142 U. S., 651.) The same 
must l>e true of the transit of persons from State to State, assuming 
that foreign commerce is the same as interstate commerce, with the 
exception of the locus in quo. 

Congress, therefore, having the power to regulate the transportation 
of persons in interstate commerce, it remains to be considered whether 
or not the proposed regulation is concerning a matter directly con¬ 
nected with interstate commerce or only remotely connected with it. 
In determining this the same tests are applicable as those which are 
pertinent in considering the transportation of property in interstate 
commerce. As stated in The Lottery cases, 188 IJ. S., 321, 357: 

As a State may, for the purpose of guarding the morals of its own people, 
forbid all sales of lottery tickets within its limits, so Congress, for the purpose 
of guarding the people of the United! States against the “widespread pestilence 
of lotteries” and to protect the commerce which concerns all the States, may 
prohibit the carrying of lottery tickets from one State to another. In legislat¬ 
ing upon the subject of the traffic in lottery tickets, as carried on through in¬ 
terstate commerce, Congress only supplemented the action of those States— per¬ 
haps all of them—which, for the protection of the public morals, prohibit the 
drawing of lotteries, as well as the sale or circulation of lottery tickets, within 
their respective limits. It is said, in effect, that it would not permit the 
declared policy of the States, which sought to protect their people against the 
mischiefs of tile lottery business, to be overthrown or disregarded by the agency 
of interstate commerce. We should hesitate long before adjudging that an 
evil of such appalling character, carried on through interstate commerce, can 
not be met and crushed by the only power competent to that end. We say 
competent to that end, because Congress alone has the power to occupy, by 
legislation, the whole field of interstate commerce. What was said by this 
court upon a former occasion may well be here repeated: “The framers of the 

3 




4 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


Constitution never intended that the legislative power of the nation should find 
itself incapable of disposing of a subject-matter specifically committed to its 
charge.” {In re Rahrer, 140 U. S., 545, 562.) If the carrying of lottery tickets 
from one State td another be interstate commerce, and if Congress is of opinion 
that an effective regulation for the suppression of lotteries, carried on through 
such commerce, is to make it a criminal offense to cause lottery tickets to be 
carried from one State to another, we know of no authority in the courts to 
hold that the means thus devised are not appropriate and necessary to protect 
the country at large against a species of interstate commerce which, although in 
general use and somewhat favored in both national and state legislation in the 
early history of the country, has grown into disrepute, and has become offensive 
to the entire people of the nation. It is a kind of traffic which no one can be 
entitled to pursue as of right. 

Certainly in the case of lotteries there is nothing harmful in the 
mere transportation of the pieces of paper. The injury resulted from 
the connection which existed between those tickets and the entire 
scheme of the lottery. It was the purpose for which the tickets were 
used which made them an instrument of injury to the public. 

The sections above proposed have been so drawn that they are 
limited to cases in which there is the act of transportation in inter¬ 
state commerce of women for purposes of prostitution. The use of 
interstate commerce in sending prostitutes from one State to another 
in connection with this traffic in women would seem to be as directly 
comiected with interstate commerce as the sending of tickets from one 
State to another in furtherance of the operation of a lottery. It is 
true the act of prostitution is not committed in connection with the 
interstate transportation nor was the drawing in connection with the 
lottery a part of interstate commerce. 

The sections proposed do not amount to an interference with the 
police power of the State. The simple test, as pointed out in the 
Rahrer case and in the Lottery cases, is whether or not the State, in 
the exercise of its police power, could have prohibited the things at 
which the act is aimed. Manifestly a State could not enact that a 
person who induced a woman to go from one State to another for 
purposes of prostitution should not aid or assist in her transporta¬ 
tion from one State to another, or that the common carrier should 
not transport the prostitute. To do so would be a plain attempt to 
regulate interstate commerce. (Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U. S.. 100.) 
Where the subject upon which Congress can act in the exercise of 
the power to regulate commerce is local in its nature or sphere of 
operation, such as harbor pilotage, the construction of bridges over 
navigable rivers, the erection of wharves, piers, and docks, which 
properly can be regulated only by special provision adapted to their 
localities, the State can act until Congress interferes and supersedes 
its authority. Where, however, the subject is national in its char¬ 
acter, and demands and requires uniform regulation, and affects all 
the States, such as transportation between the States, including the 
importation from one State to another, Congress alone can act on 
it and provide the needed regulation. (Bowman v. Chicago & N. W. 
R, Co., 125 U. S., 465, 507.) 

The rule just stated with reference to the transportation of prop¬ 
erty of course applies to the transportation of persons. The subject- 
matter of the legislation being, therefore, one over which the States 
have no control, it must be, as pointed out above, within the domain 
of proper federal legislation. 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


5 


HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAW. 

The history of the development of the law forbidding the importa¬ 
tion of alien women for purposes of prostitution is as follows: 

The first provision relating to this subject was contained in the 
act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat. L., 477 ; also 1 IT. S. Comp. Stat., pp. 
1286-1287), as follows: 

Sec. 3. That the importation into the United States of women for the pur¬ 
poses of prostitution is hereby forbidden; and all contracts and agreements 
in relation thereto, made in advance or in pursuance of such illegal importation 
and purposes, are hereby declared void ; and whoever shall knowingly and will¬ 
fully import, or cause any importation of, women into the United States for 
the purposes of prostitution, or shall knowingly or willfully hold, or attempt 
to hold, any woman to such purposes, in pursuance of such illegal importa¬ 
tion and contract or .agreement, shall he deemed guilty of a felony, and, oil con¬ 
viction thereof, shall be imprisoned not exceeding five years and pay a fine 
not exceeding live thousand dollars. 

Section 5 of the same act also contained the following: 

That it shall be unlawful for aliens of the following classes to immigrate 
into the United States, namely, * * * women “ imported for the purposes 

of prostitution.” 

The foregoing provision was superseded by section 3 of the act of 
March 3, 1903, entitled “An act to regulate the immigration of 
aliens into the United States” (32 Stat. L., 1213; also 1905 Suppl. 
to U. S. Comj). Stat., p. 276), which provides as follows: 

That the importation into the United States of any woman or girl for the 
purposes of prostitution is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall import or 
attempt to import any woman or girl into the United States for the purposes 
of prostitution, or shall hold or attempt to hold, any woman or girl for such 
purposes in pursuance of such illegal importation shall be deemed guilty of a 
felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall he imprisoned not less than one nor 
more than five years and pay a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars. 

It is to be observed that the provision in question underwent sev¬ 
eral important changes in the reenactment, as follows: 

First. The old act covered the importation only of “ any woman.” 
The new act was extended to cover “ any woman or girl." 

Second. The clause in the old act declaring void contracts or agree¬ 
ments in relation to importing women for the purposes of prostitu¬ 
tion was omitted in the new act. 

Third. The old act used the language ** knowingly and willfully ” 
import and “ knowingly and willfully ” hold, or attempt to hold, any 
person, in pursuance of such illegal importation, etc. The new act 
eliminated the “ knowingly and willfully ” and made it an offense 
to import or to hold or attempt to hold any person in pursuance of 
such illegal importation. 

Fourth. The penalty in each act was the same. 

Both of the foregoing provisions were superseded bv the act of 
February 20, 1907. entitled: “An act to regulate the immigration 
of aliens into the United States." (34 Stat. L., 898; 1907 Suppl. 
U. S. Comp. Stat., 392), as follows: 

Sec. 3. That the importation into tin* United States of any alien woman or 
girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby 
forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to im¬ 
port, into the United States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitu¬ 
tion, or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to 
hold any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal 


6 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor in 
any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other im¬ 
moral purpose, any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall have 
entered tlx* United States, shall, in every such case, he deemed guilty of a felony, 
and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and pay a fine 
of not more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl who shall 
be found an inmate of a house of prostitution or practicing prostitution, at any 
time within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall be 
deemed to be unlawfully within the United States and shall be deported as 
provided by sections twenty and twenty-one of this act. 

The changes introduced into the new provision, worthy of note, are 
as follows: 

First. The new law forbade the importation of any alien woman 
or girl for the purpose of prostitution, and added the clause “ or for 
any other immoral purpose.'* 

Second. The new law added the words “ directly or indirectly ” 
in the clause “ and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or 
attempt to import." etc. 

Third. The new law added the following important and also ab¬ 
solutely new provision: u Or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, 
support, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of 
prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, any alien woman or 
girl, within three years after she shall have entered the United 
States." 

Fourth. The new law added to the section express authorization 
for the deportation of any alien woman or girl, in the following 
language: 

Any alien woman or girl wlio shall be found an inmate of a bouse of prosti¬ 
tution or practicing prostitution, at any time within three years after she shall 
have entered the United States, shall be deemed to be unlawfully within the 
United States and shall be deported as provided by sections twenty and twenty- 
one of this act. 

SUPREME COURT DECISION CONSTRUING SECTION 3 OF THE ACT OF 

FEBRUARY 20, 1907. 

Section 3 of the act of February 20, 1007, has received the con¬ 
sideration of the Supreme Court in two cases. 

In the first case, that of the United States r. John Bitty (208 
U. S., 393), the Supreme Court held that a foreign woman being 
brought to the United States as the personal, private mistress of a 
man living here was being imported “ for other immoral purposes,” 
and that, therefore, the importer was subject to the penalty of the 
statute and the woman to deportation. 

This decision is not pertinent to the phase of the subject under 
discussion, and is mentioned only in passing. 

The second case was that of Joseph Keller r. United States (213 
U. 8., 138). In the Keller case the Supreme Court was called to 
pass squarely upon the constitutionality of that portion of the pro¬ 
vision in question which made it an offense to harbor or maintain for 
the purposes of prostitution any alien woman or girl within three 
years of her entry into the United States. The exact language of the 
provision in question is as follows: 

Or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor in any house or 
other place, for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, 
any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall have entered the 
United States, shall, in every such case, be deemed guilty of a felony, etc. 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


7 


The opinion of the court (attached hereto as Appendix C) was 
delivered by Mr. Justice Brewer. Mr. Justice Holmes delivered a 
dissenting opinion (attached hereto as Appendix D), which was 
concurred in by'Justices Harlan and Moody. 

The case was a typical case of “ harboring ” exclusively. The 
uncontradicted testimony was to the effect that the woman, Irene 
Bodi, came to this country in November, 1905; that she remained in 
New J ork until October, 1907; then came to Chicago and went into 
a house of prostitution at South Chicago, which the defendants 
purchased in November, 1907, finding the woman then in the house; 
that she had been in the business of a prostitute for only a few months 
prior to the trial of the case, in October. 1908, and that the defendants 
did not know her until November, 1907. 

The question of the power of Congress to enact a law for the 
punishment of anyone “ harboring ” an alien woman within three- 
years of her arrival, regardless of whether or not she was a prosti¬ 
tute voluntarily or had entered that state against her will, was 
squarely presented by the facts in the case. The court held that Con¬ 
gress was without power to pass such a law, its position appearing 
from the statement contained in the following paragraph from the 
opinion of the court: 

While the keeping of a house of ill fame is offensive to the moial sense, yet 
that fact must not close the eye to the question whether the power to punish 
therefor is delegated to Congress or is reserved to the State. Jurisdiction over 
such an offense comes within the accepted definition of the police power. Speak¬ 
ing generally, that power is reserved to the States, for there is in the Consti¬ 
tution no grant thereof to Congress. 

Bearing in mind the facts in this case—namely, that so far as 
appeared in the case presented, the defendants had nothing whatever 
to do Avith the importation of the woman in question; that so far as 
they were concerned she tvas not in a house of ill fame against her 
will; and that she was an inmate of the house when the establishment 
Avas purchased as a going concern—the following suggestions of the 
court contained in the opinion Avith reference to the conclusion the 
court might have reached had the facts been different, are important : 
For instance, the court says, page 144: 

It is unnecessary to determine Iioav far Congress may go in legislating with 
respect to the conduct of an alien while residing here, for there is no charge 
against one; nor to prescribe the extent of its power in punishing wrongs done 
to an alien, for there is neither charge nor proof of any such wrong. So far 
as the statute or the indictment requires, or the testimony shows, she was vol¬ 
untarily living the life of a prostitute, and was only furnished a place by the 
defendants to folloA\ r her degraded life. 

See also on page 147, the court says: 

The question is. therefore, whether there is any authority conferred upon 
Congress by which this particular portion of the* statute can be sustained. 
By section 2 of article 2 of the Constitution power is given to the President, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, but there 
is no suggestion in the record or in the briefs of a treaty with the King of 
Hungary under which this legislation can be supported. 

The Government stated in its brief these ttvo propositions: 

The clause in question should be held A’alid because it relates to and materi¬ 
ally affects the conditions upon which an alien female may be permitted to 
remain in this country, and the grounds which warrant her exclusion. * * * 

The validity of the provision in question should be determined from its gen¬ 
eral effect upon the importation and exclusion of aliens. 


8 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


The court then, without stating whether or not either of these 
propositions was well taken, dismissed them with the statement that 
u the act charged has no significance in either direction.” 

In considering the decision of the Supreme Court in the Keller 
case attention is especially called to the fact that in the opinion the 
court made the following suggestions: 

By section 2 of article 2, of the Constitution, power is given to the President, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, but there 
is no suggestion in the record or in the briefs of a treaty with the King of 
Hungary under which this legislation can be supported. 

It is manifest that this is a most pregnant suggestion. A showing 
that the legislation in question was supported by a treaty could not 
be made at that time, however, for the reason that at the time of the 
enactment of the legislation the United States was not a party to the 
international agreement covering the subject. In fact, this Govern¬ 
ment did not adhere to the international agreement until a date 
subsequent to the commission of the offense charged against Keller. 

In this connection the chronology of events is important. The 
existing statute on the subject of the importation of alien women 
for immoral purposes is contained in section 3 of the act approved 
February 20, 1907. The alleged illegal act of Avhich the defendant 
stood convicted was the harboring of an alien woman on June 1, 
1908. The United States did not become a party to the international 
agreement for the repression of the trade in white women until June 
15, 1908, at which time this Government adhered to the agreement by 
virtue of a proclamation issued by President Koosevelt. It appears, 
therefore, that the statute in question became a law, and the offense 
involved was committed, previous to the date on which this Govern¬ 
ment became a party to the international agreement. 

So far as 1 have been able to ascertain Congress has never passed 
any legislation to insure the carrying out of the provisions of the 
treaty in question. 

The following clearly appears from an analysis of the Supreme 
Court decision above mentioned: 

First. That Congress may properly enact legislation affecting the 
conduct of an alien while residing here for a period of at least two 
or three years after the alien’s arrival. 

Second. That Congress may provide for the punishment of wrongs 
done to an alien during the probationary period—that is to sav, the 
Supreme Court intimates very broadly that Congress has the power 
to enact a law making it an offense to “ harbor ” for immoral pur¬ 
poses, b}^ force or against her will, an alien woman or girl within 
the limited period referred to. 

Third. That in*the carrying out of a treaty obligation Congress has 
the authority to pass an act making it an offense to harbor an alien 
woman or girl for immoral purposes, even in the absence of a show¬ 
ing that force or restraint is used—that is to say, in the decision above 
referred to the Supreme Court suggests that a different conclusion 
might have been reached under the very clause then under considera¬ 
tion had it appeared that the provision in question was the carrying 
out of a treaty agreement. 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


9 


EXISTING LAWS. 


Section 3 of the act of February 20, 1907 (34 Stat., 899; also 1907 
Suppl. U. S. Comp. Stat., p. 392), is as follows: 

Note. —The italic portion of the following section is the portion 
which was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Keller 
case: 

That the importation into the United States of any alien woman or girl for 
the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby for¬ 
bidden ; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import, 
into the I nited States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, 
or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold 
any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal 
importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, <,r harbor in any 
house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution, oi&for any other immoral 
purpose any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall hare entered 
the United States, shall, in every such case, he deemed guilty of a felony, and on 
conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and pay a fine of not 
more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl who shall be 
found an inmate of a house of prostitution or practicing prostitution, at any 
time within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall 
be deemed to be unlawfully within the United States and shall be deported as 
provided by sections twenty and twenty-one of this act. 

Section 2 of the same act provides as follows: 

That the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into 
the United States; * * * prostitutes, or women or girls coming into the 

United States for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose; 
persons who procure or attempt to bring in prostitutes or women or girls for 
the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose; * * ♦. 

“ THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE.” 

A material portion of the legislation suggested and proposed is 
necessary to meet conditions which have arisen within the past few 
years. The legislation is needed to put a stop to a villainous inter¬ 
state and international traffic in women and girls. The legislation is 
not needed or intended as an aid to the States in the exercise of their 
police powers in the suppression or regulation of immorality in 
general. It does not attempt to regulate the practice of voluntary 
prostitution, but aims solely to prevent panderers and procurers 
from compelling thousands of women and girls against their will 
and desire to enter and continue in a life of prostitution. 

The evil, as a present day existing evil of widespread dimensions 
which has arisen, has been given careful attention by the repre¬ 
sentatives of mest of the civilized nations of the world, and has 
been made the subject of an international agreement. Thousands of 
public-spirited citizens have combined in various national and state 
organizations for the purpose of lending their aid in its suppression. 
The white-slave trade has been so prevalent that prosecuting officers, 
both state and federal, even under inadequate and insufficient laws, 
have been able to secure many notable convictions. It is an evil 
which many state legislatures have attempted to regulate within the 
past two or three years by means of the enactment of state statutes. 
Inasmuch, however, as the traffic involves mainly the tr msportation 
of women and girls from the country district 5 * to the centers of popu¬ 
lation and their importation from foreign nations the evil is one 

18795—09-2 


10 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


which can not be met comprehensively and effectively otherwise than 
by the enactment of federal laws. 

Investigations conducted by government agents disclose the fact 
that a national and international traffic exists in the buying, selling, 
and exploitation of women and young girls for immoral purposes. 
This traffic has come to be known the world over as “ the white- 
slave trade.” It is referred to by the Paris conference as “ the trade 
in white women.” 

There are few who really understand the true significance of the 
term “ white-slave trade.” Most of those who have given only a 
casual thought to the subject have the impression that women who 
lead immoral lives in public houses are there voluntarily, either be¬ 
cause they are attracted by the excitement of such a life or because 
they have found it an easy way of earning a living. In many cases 
such is not the fact. The results of careful investigation into this 
subject disclose the fact that the inmates of many houses of ill fame 
are made up largely of women and girls whose original entry into a 
life of immorality was brought about by men who are in the business 
of procuring women for that purpose—men whose sole means of live¬ 
lihood is the money received from the sale and exploitation of 
women who, by means of force and restraint, compel their victims 
to practice prostitution. These investigations have disclosed the 
further fact that these women are practically slaves in the true sense 
of the word; that many of them are kept in houses of ill fame against 
their will; and that force, if necessary, is used to deprive them of 
their liberty. 

The characteristic which distinguishes “ the white-slave trade ” 
from immorality in general is that the women who are the victims 
of the traffic are unwillingly forced to practice prostitution. The 
term “ white slave ” includes only those women and girls who are 
literally slaves—those women who are owned and held as property 
and chattels—whose lives are lives of involuntary servitude; those 
who practice prostitution as a result of the activities of the procurer, 
and who, for a considerable period at least, continue to lead their 
degraded lives because of the power exercised over them by their 
owners. In short, the white-slave trade may be said to be the busi¬ 
ness of securing white women and girls and of selling them outright, 
or of exploiting them for immoral purposes. Its victims are those 
women and girls who, if given a fair chance, would, in all human 
probability, have been good wives and mothers and useful citizens. 

The preamble of an existing international agreement on this sub¬ 
ject states that the several governments 

being desirous to assure to women who have attained their majority and 
are subjected to deception or constraint, as well as minor women and" girls, 
an efficacious protection against the criminal traffic known under the name 
of trade in white women (“traite des blanches”), have resolved to conclude 
an arrangement with a view to concert proper measures to attain this purpose. 

It is the purpose of the proposed laws, in so far as it may be pos¬ 
sible for Congress to do so, to protect women and girls against this 
criminal traffic by providing for the punishment of those engaged 
in that traffic and by regulations established by the act. 

Extensive investigation by government commissions and prosecut¬ 
ing officers in various parts of the country disclose the fact that in 
many cases involving women and girls imported into this country, 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


11 


and those transported from one State to another, the procurers resort 
to all of the means and devices known to the criminal classes to 
accomplish their purposes. Liquor, trickery, deceit, fraud, and the 
use of force are resorted to by the procurer to place the girl under 
his power. In some cases, those who have been induced to come to 
the large cities are first introduced to the house of prostitution under 
the influence of liquor; in others, the procurer enters into a pretended 
marriage with his victim; in many cases involving the importation 
of women and girls from abroad and their transportation from one 
State to another the inducement is the promise of legitimate employ¬ 
ment with handsome compensation. Hundreds of men in large cities 
live from the earnings of the victims of the white slave trade, and in 
many instances the more extensive of international procurers live in 
affluence. The books kept by a notorious importer of French girls, 
who was arrested in Chicago a few months ago, disclosed his earn¬ 
ings for the year previous to his arrest, largely from his importation 
and whollv from his exploitation of girls, to have been more than 
$ 102 , 000 . 

The investigations into this subject conclusively show the fact that 
for some time after they are first unwillingly forced to take up a life 
of prostitution many of the victims would at once abandon it were it 
possible for them to do so. The facts are that in order to insure her 
continuance in the degraded life, to which she has unwillingly been 
forced to submit, the procurer has resort to physical violence and the 
maintenance of a system of surveillance which makes her, to all 
intents and purposes, a prisoner. Obviously the portions of the act 
which require the proprietor of a house of ill fame to report to the 
federal authorities concerning the arrival in the establishment of 
an alien woman or girl would, at least so far as concerns aliens, make 
unlawful detention practically impossible. 

The national and international importance of suppressing this 
criminal traffic is clearly shown by reference to the treaty, the 
preamble of which is given above, and reports of governmental offi¬ 
cers and others on the subject. 

The Secretary of v Commerce and Labor, in his annual report for 
1008, page 18, refers to the matter in the following terms: 

It is highly necessary that this diabolical traffic, which has attained inter¬ 
national proportions, should be dealt with in a manner adequate to compass its 
suppression. No punishment is too severe to inflict upon the procurers in this 
vile traffic. 

The act of February 20, 190T (sec. 29),. created an immigration 
commission, the membership of which was to consist of three Sen¬ 
ators, three Members of the House of Representatives, and three 
persons to be appointed by the President of the United States. In a 
preliminary report submitted February 27, 1909 (Hoc. 1489), the 
commission says: 

The commission has made an extensive investigation into the question of the 
importation and harboring of women for immoral purposes. The results show 
that many women are being regularly imported under conditions which often 
amount to absolute slavery. 

It is believed that as a result of this investigation the commission will be 
able to make recommendations which will put a very decided check upon this 
horrible traffic, if, indeed, it will not practically break it up entirely. 


12 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


THE TRAFFIC IS SYSTEMATIC AND EXTENSIVE. 

Governmental investigations which have been conducted disclose 
the fact that the importation of women and girls from foreign coun¬ 
tries has been systematic and continuous, and has not been limited to 
isolated and accidental cases. The facts in connection with investi¬ 
gations conducted by the district attorney at Chicago may be taken 
as* typical of the situation in many other cities. 

At the time of the arrest of several notorious French importers 
in Chicago, a large amount of correspondence and other documentary 
evidence fell into the hands of the authorities. This evidence showed 
beyond a reasonable doubt that there was in existence an organized 
system, or syndicate, having for its purpose the importation of women 
from foreign countries to Chicago and other cities in the United 
States for immoral purposes. This syndicate had headquarters and 
distributing centers in New York, Chicago, Omaha, Denver, San 
Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Nome, Alaska. 

It is conservatively estimated, from an examination of the data and 
information at hand, that the syndicate has imported annually during 
the preceding eight or ten years on an average of about 2,000 women— 
largely French. It also appears that the syndicate regularly sent 
agents to Europe to procure girls, at stated prices, to be brought to 
the United States, where they were placed at the disposal of the 
keepers of houses of prostitution. The usual method employed in 
evading the immigration officers at the ports of entry was to pass 
the women as the wives or sisters of the procurers with whom they 
arrived. 

One of the chief members of this syndicate was the Frenchman 
Alphonse Dufaur, who was the defendant in six indictments, in the 
Chicago district, charging him with harboring alien women in viola¬ 
tion of the existing law. Dufaur and his wife subsequently forfeited 
bonds in the sum of $25,000 and became fugitives from justice. 

Another active importer and procurer was Henry Lair, who oper¬ 
ated establishments in Chicago and San Francisco. One of Lair’s 
agents was a man named Louis Paint, who, some time ago, was con¬ 
victed of importing in New York, and who is now serving a sentence 
of four years in the penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., for importing 
women for Lair. On the rfecent trial of Lair, in Chicago, Paint testi¬ 
fied that he had been given $800 by Lair and told to go to Paris for 
the purpose of procuring two girls for Lair’s establishment in Chi¬ 
cago. Lair was convicted and sentenced by Judge Landis to serve 
two years at hard labor in the penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth and 
to pay a fine of $2,500. 

Various arrests have been made in the Chicago district which 
disclose the existence of a traffic in girls from Hungary, Sweden, 
Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, and other countries. 

In this connection it is of interest to note the profits realized by 
those engaged in the importation of alien women for the purpose 
of prostitution. For this purpose the information in the possession 
of the Government, as the result of prosecution against the French 
procurer Dufaur, which is definite and accurate, may be taken as 
typical of the remunerative character of the traffic. The books of 
account kept by Dufaur sIioav that his income, from his establishment 
in Chicago, realized largely as a result of his success as an importer, 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


13 


was, for the twelve months immediately preceding his arrest, up¬ 
wards of $102,000. These books also show that during the month 
of May, previous to his arrest, the earnings of one girl, a recent 
importation, were $723. In almost every instance which has come 
to the attention of the authorities the girls who were imported from 
France by the French syndicate were compelled to turn over every 
day to the proprietor of the establishment in which they were, de¬ 
tained all their earnings. They were usually allowed only enough to 
purchase the clothing necessary to make them attractive to frequent¬ 
ers of the place. 

INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT FOR THE REPRESSION OF THE 
TRADE IN WHITE WOMEN. 

A project of arrangement for the suppression of the white slave 
traffic was, on July 25. 1902, adopted for submission to their respec¬ 
tive governments by the delegates of various powers represented at 
the Paris conference for the repression of the trade in white women. 

The stipulations of this project of arrangement were confirmed 
by preliminary agreement signed at Paris, May 18, 1904, by the 
Governments of Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Great 
Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Norway, 
and the Swiss Federal Council. 

By its resolution of March 1, 1905, the Senate of the United States 
advised and consented to the adhesion by the United States to the 
said project of arrangement, and therefore, on June 6, 1908, the 
President announced the adherence on the part of this Government 
to the project, and this adherence was on June 15, 1908, covered by 
the proclamation of the President. This treaty was published in 
pamphlet form by the State Department as Treaty Series, No. 496, 
and a complete copy is attached hereto as Appendix B. The pream¬ 
ble of this agreement recites that the various governments, being 
desirous to assure to women who have attained their majority, and 
are subjected to deception or constraint, as well as minor women and 
girls, an efficacious protection against the criminal traffic known 
under the name of trade in white women (“ traite des blanches”), 
have resolved to conclude an arrangement with a view to concert 
proper measures to attain this purpose. 

The terms of the agreement as set forth in the various articles are 
as follows: 

Article 3. Each of the Contracting Governments agrees to establish or desig 
nate an authority who will be directed to centralize all information concern 
ing the procuration of women or girls both in a view to their debauchery in a 
foreign country; that authority shall have the right to correspond directly 
with the similar service established in each of the other Contracting States. 

Art. 2. Each of the Governments agrees to exercise a supervision for the 
purpose to find out, particularly in the stations, harbours of embarkation, and 
on the journey, the conductors of women or girls intended for debauchery. 
Instructions shall be sent for that purpose to the officials or to any other 
qualified persons, in order to procure, within the limits of the laws, all infor¬ 
mation of a nature to discover a criminal traffic. 

The arrival of persons appearing evidently to be the authors, the accom¬ 
plices, or the victims of such a traffic will be notified, in each case, either to the 
authorities of the place of destination or to the interested diplomatic or consu¬ 
lar agents, or to any other competent authorities. 

Art. 3. The Governments agree to receive, in each case within the limits of 
the laws, the declarations of women and girls of foreign nationality who sur- 


14 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


render tlieniselves to prostitution, witli a view to establish their identity and 
their civil status and to ascertain who has induced them to leave their country. 
The information received will he communicated to the authorities of the country 
of origin of the said women or girls, with a view to their eventual return. 

The Governments agree, within the limits of the laws and as far as possible, 
to confide temporarily and with a view to their eventual return, the victims of 
criminal traffic, when they are without any resources, to some institutions of 
public or private charity or to private individuals furnishing the necessary 
guaranties. 

The Governments agree also, within the limits of the laws, to return 
to their country of origin, those women or girls who ask their return or who 
may be claimed by persons having authority over them. Return will he made 
only after reaching an understanding as to their identity and nationality, as 
well as to the place and date of their arrival at the frontiers. Each of the 
contracting parties will facilitate the transit on his territory. 

The correspondence relative to the return will be made, as far as possible, 
through the direct channel. 

Art. 4. In case the woman or girl to be sent back can not pay herself the 
expenses of her transportation and she has neither husband nor relations nor 
guardian to pay for her the expenses occasioned by her return, they shall be 
borne by the country or the territory of which she resides as far as the near¬ 
est frontier or port of embarkation in the direction of the country of origin, 
and by the country of origin for the remainder. 

Art. 5. The provisions of the above articles 3 and 4 shall not infringe upon 
the provisions of special conventions which may exist between the contracting 
Governments. • 

Art. (>. The contracting Governments agree, within the limits of the laws, to 
exercise, as far as possible, a supervision over the bureaus or agencies which 
occupy themselves with finding places for women or girls in foreign countries. 

Articles 7. 8, and 9 provide for the adhesion of the nonsignatory 
States, that the present arrangement shall take effect six months after 
the date of the exchange of the ratifications, and for the formalities 
attending the ratification and exchange of the agreement, respectively. 


DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED HEREWITH. 


For convenience of reference there are attached hereto the follow¬ 
ing documents: 

Appendix A.—Copy of agreement between the United States and other powers 
for the repression of the trade in white women. 

Appendix B.—Copy of the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States 
in the Keller ease. 

Appendix C.—Copy of dissenting opinion of the Supreme Court of the United 
States in the Keller case. 

Appendix D.—Extract from statement of the Immigration Commission, issued 
February 27, 1909. 

Appendix E.—Extract from annual report of the Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor, 1908. 

Appendix F.—Extract from annual report of the Commissioner-General of 
Immigration for year ended June 30, 1907. 

Appendix G.—Extract from annual report of the Commissioner-General of 
Immigration for year ended June 30, 1908. 


APPENDIX A. 


[Extract from the Congressional Record, 58th Congress, Senate, vol. 39, March 1, 1905.] 

REPRESSION OF THE TRADE IN WHITE WOMEN. 

The injunction of secrecy was removed March 1, 1905, from 
projects of a convention and an additional arrangement adopted 
on July 25, 1902, by the delegates of the various powers represented 
at the Paris conference for the repression of the trade in white 
women (traite des blanches). 

Appendix A.— Agreement between the United States and other 
powers for the repression of the trade in white women. 

[Signed at Paris, May 18, 1904. Ratification advised by the Senate, March 1, 1905- 
Adhered to by the President, June 6, 1908. Proclaimed, June 15, 1908.] 

By the President of the United States of America. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas a project of arrangement for the suppression of the 
white slave traffic was, on July 25, 1902, adopted for submission to 
their respective Governments by the delegates of various Powers rep¬ 
resented at the Paris Conference for the repression of the trade in 
white women; 

And whereas, in pursuance of Article VII of the said project of 
arrangement, the Government of the United States was, on August 
18,1902, ijivited by the Government of the French Republic to adhere 
thereto; 


15 


16 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


And Avhereas the Senate of the United States, by its Resolution of 
March 1, 1905 (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring 
therein), did advise and consent to the adhesion by the United States 
to the said project of arrangement ; 

And whereas the stipulations of the said project of arrangement 
were, word for word, and without change, confirmed by a formal 
agreement, signed at Paris on May 18, 1904, by the Governments of 
Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, 
the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Norway, and the Swiss 
Federal Council, a true copy of which agreement, in the French 
language, is hereto attached; 

And whereas the ratifications by the said Governments of the said 
agreement have been duly deposited with the Government of the 
French Republic; and the said agreement has been adhered to by the 
Governments of Austria-Hungary and Brazil; 

And whereas the President of the United States of America, in 
pursuance of the aforesaid advice and consent of the Senate, did, on 
the 6th day of June, 1908, declare that the United States adheres to 
the said agreement in confirmation of the said project of arrangement: 

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President 
of the United States of America, have caused the said agreement to be 
made public, to the end that the same, and every article and clause 
thereof, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United 
States and the citizens thereof. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington this 15th day of June, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eight, and of the Inde¬ 
pendence of the United States of America the one hundred and 
thirty-second. 

[seal.] Theodore Roosevelt. 

By the President: 

Robert Bacon, 

Acting Secretary of State. 


THE AGREEMENT. 

His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, in the name of 
the German Empire; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; His 
Majesty the King of Denmark; His Majesty the King of Spain; the 
President of the French Republic; His Majesty the King of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British 
Diminions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India; His Majesty the King 
of Italy; Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands; His Majesty 
the King of Portugal and of the Algarves; His Majesty the Em¬ 
peror of All the Russias; His Majesty the King of Sweden and Nor¬ 
way, and the Swiss Federal Council, being desirous to assure to 
women who have attained their majority and are subjected to decep¬ 
tion or constraint, as well as minor women and girls, an efficacious 
protection against the criminal traffic known under the name of trade 
in white women (“ Traite des Blanches ”). have resolved to conclude 



WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


17 


an arrangement with a view to concert proper measures to attain this 
purpose and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say: 

The President of the French Republic, His Excellency M. th. Del 
casse, deputy, minister for foreign affairs of the French Republic; 

His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, His Serene 
Highness Prince Radolin, his ambassador extraordinary. 

His Majesty the King of the Belgians, M. A. Leghait, his envoy 
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the President of the 
French Republic; 

His Majesty the King of Denmark, Count F. Reventlow, his envoy 
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the President of the 
French Republic; 

His Majesty the King of Spain, His Excellency M. F. de Leon y 
Castillo, Marquis del Muni, his ambassador extraordinary and pleni¬ 
potentiary to the President of the French Republic; 

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland and of the British dominions beyond the seas, Emperor 
of India, His Excellency Sir E. Monson, his ambassador extraor¬ 
dinary and plenipotentiary to the President of the French Republic; 

His Majesty the King of Italy, His Excellency Count Tornielli 
Brusati di Vergano, his ambassador extraordinary and plenipoten¬ 
tiary to the President of the French Republic; 

Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, M. le Chevalier de 
Stuers, her envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the 
President of the French Republic; 

His Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves, M. T. de 
Souza-Roza, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to 
the President of the French Republic; 

His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his excellency M. de 
Nelidow, his ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the 
President of the French Republic; 

His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway: for Sweden and for 
Norway, M. Akerman, his envoy extraordinary and minister pleni¬ 
potentiary to the President of the French Republic; 

And the Swiss Federal Council, M. Charles Edouard Lardy, envoy 
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Swiss Confedera¬ 
tion to the President of the French Republic; 

Who, having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due 
form, have agreed upon the following provisions: 

Article 1. Each of the contracting Governments agrees to estab¬ 
lish or designate an authority who will be directed to centralize all 
information concerning the procuration of women or girls both in a 
view to their debauchery in a foreign country; that authority shall 
have the right to correspond directly with the similar service estab¬ 
lished in each of the other contracting States. 

Art. 2. Each of the Governments agrees to exercise a supervision 
for the purpose to find out, particularly in the stations, harbours of 
embarkation, and on the journey, the conductors of women or girls 
intended for debauchery. Instructions shall be sent for that purpose 
to the officials or to any other qualified persons, in order to procure, 
within the limits of the laws, all information of a nature to discover a 
criminal traffic. 


18 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


The arrival of persons appearing evidently to be the authors, the 
accomplices, or the victims of such a traffic will be notified, in each 
case, either to the authorities of the place of destination or to the 
interested diplomatic or consular agents, or to any other competent 

authorities. / 

Art. 3. The governments agree to receive, in each case, within the 
limits of the laws, the declarations of women and girls of foreign 
nationality who surrender themselves to prostitution, with a view to 
establish their identity and their civil status and to ascertain who 
has induced them to leave their country. The information received 
will be communicated to the authorities of the country of origin of 
the said women or girls, with a view to their eventual return. 

The Governments agree, within the limits of the laws and as far 
as possible, to confide temporarily and with a view to their eventual 
return, the victims of criminal traffic, when they are without any 
resources, to some institutions of public or private charity or to 
private individuals furnishing the necessary guaranties. 

The Governments agree also, within the limits of the laws, to 
return to their country of origin those of those women or girls who 
ask their return or who may be claimed by persons having authority 
over them. Return will be made only after reaching an under¬ 
standing as to their identity and nationality, as well as to the place 
and date of their arrival at the frontiers. Each of the Contracting 
Parties will facilitate the transit on his territory. 

The correspondence relative to the return will be made, as far as 
possible, through the direct channel. 

Vrt. 4. In case the woman or girl to be sent back can not pay 
herself the expenses of her transportation, and she has neither hus¬ 
band nor relations nor guardian to pay for her the expenses oc¬ 
casioned by her return, they shall be borne by the country on the 
territory of which she resides as far as the nearest frontier or port 
of embarkation in the direction of the country of origin, and by the 
country of origin for the remainder. 

Art. 5. The provisions of the above articles 3 and 4 shall not in¬ 
fringe upon the/ provisions of special conventions which may exist 
between the contracting governments. 

Art. 6. The contracting Governments agree, within the limits of 
the laws, to exercise, as far as possible, a supervision over the bureaux 
or agencies which occupy themselves with finding places for women 
or girls in foreign countries. 

Art. 7. The non-signatory States are admitted to adhere to the 
present arrangement. For this purpose they shall notify their in¬ 
tention, through the diplomatic channel, to the French Government, 
which shall inform all the contracting States. 

Art. 8. The present arrangement shall take effect six months after 
the date of the exchange of ratifications. In case one of the contract¬ 
ing parties shall denounce it, that denunciation shall take effect only 
as regards that party and then twelve months only from the date of 
the day of the said denunciation. 

Art. 9. The present arrangement shall be ratified and the ratifi¬ 
cations shall be exchanged at Paris as soon as possible. 

In faith whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the 
present agreement and thereunto affixed their seals. 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


19 


Done at Paris, the 18th May, 1904, in single copy, which shall be 
deposited in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the 
French Republic, and of which one copy, certified correct, shall be 
sent to each contracting party. 


Appendix B. 

TX THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Keller r. The United States. (213 U. S. Reports, 138.) 

(Decided April 5, 1909.) 

Section 3 of the act of Congress of February 20, 1907 (34 Stat. 
898, 899), entitled “An act to regulate the immigration of aliens into 
the United States,” reads as follows: 

See. 3. That tl:e importation into tlie United States of any alien woman or 
girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby 
forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to 
import, into the United States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of 
prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attepmt 
to hold any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal 
importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor, in any 
house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral 
purpose, any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall hare 
entered tlie United States , shall, in every such ease, be deemed guilty of a 
felony, and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and 
pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl 
who shall be found an inmate of a house of prostitution, or practicing prostitu¬ 
tion, at any time within three years after she shall have entered the United 
States, shall be deemed to be unlawfully within the United States, and shall 
be deported as provided by sections twenty and twenty-one of this act. 

The plaintiffs in error were indicted for a violation of this section, 
the charge against them being based upon that portion of the section 
which is in italics, and in terms that they “ willfully and knowingly 
did keep, maintain, control, support, and harbor in their certain house 
of prostitution ” (describing it) “ for the purpose of prostitution a 
certain alien woman, to wit, Irene Bodi,” who was, as they well knew, 
a subject of the King of Hungary, who had entered the United 
States within three years. A trial was had upon this indictment: the 
plaintiffs in error were convicted and sentenced to the penitential 
for eighteen months. 

Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court. 

The single question is one of constitutionality. Has Congress 
power to punish the offense charged, or i- jurisdiction thereover 
solely with the State? Undoubtedly, as held, “Congress has the 
power to exclude aliens from the United States: to prescribe the 
terms and conditions on which they may come in: to establish regu¬ 
lations for sending out of the country such aliens as have entered in 
violation of law, and to commit the enforcement of such conditions 
and regulations to executive officers.” (Turner r. Williams. 194 
IT. S., 279, 289. See also Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U. S., 
098, 708; Head Money Cases, 112 U. S., 580, 591; Lees e. United 
States, 150 IT. S., 470. 480: United States r. Bitty, 208 IT. S.. 393.) 



20 


WHITE SLAVE TKAFFIC. 


It is unnecessary to determine how far Congress may go in legislat¬ 
ing with respect to the conduct of an alien while residing here, for 
there is no charge against one; nor to prescribe the extent of its power 
in punishing wrongs done to an alien, for there is neither charge nor 
proof of any such wrong. So far as the statute or the indictment re¬ 
quires or the testimony shows she was voluntarily living the life of a 
prostitute, and was only furnished a place bv the defendants to follow 
her degraded life. While the keeping of a house of ill-fame is offen¬ 
sive to the moral sense, yet that fact must not close the eye to the 
question whether the power to punish therefor is delegated to Con¬ 
gress or is reserved to the State. Jurisdiction over such an offense 
comes within the accepted definition of the police power. Speaking 
generally, that power is reserved to the States, for there is in the Con¬ 
stitution no grant thereof to Congress. 

In Patterson r. Kentucky (97 U. S., 501, 503) is this declaration: 

"In tlie American constitutional system,” says Mr. Cooley, " tlie power to 
establish the ordinary regulations of police has been left with the individual 
States, and can not be assumed by the National Government.” (Cooley Const. 
Lim., 574.) While it is confessedly difficult to mark the precise boundaries of 
that power, or to indicate,, by any general rule, the exact limitations which 
the States must observe in its exercise, the existence of such a power in the 
States has been uniformly recognized in this court. (Gibbons r. Ogden, 9 
Wheat., 1; License cases, 5 How., 504; Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall., 713; 
Henderson et al. r. Mayor of the City of New York et al., 92 T T . S., 259; Itail- 
road Company r. Hu sen, 95 Id., 465; Peer Company v. Massachusetts, supra, 
p. 25.) It is embraced in what Mr. Chief Justice Marshall in Gibbons r.~ 
Ogden calls that " immense mass of legislation,” which can be most advan¬ 
tageously exercised by the States, and over which the national authorities 
can not assume supervision or control. 

And in Barbier v. Connolly (113 U. S., 27, 31) it is said: 

But neither the amendment—broad and comprehensive as it is—nor any 
other amendment was designed to interfere with the power of the State, some¬ 
times termed its police power, to prescribe regulations to promote the health, 
peace, morals, education, and good order of the people, and to legislate so as 
to iucrease the industries of the Suite, develop its resources, and add to its 
wealth and prosperity. 

Further, as the rule of construction. Chief Justice Marshall, speak¬ 
ing for the court in the great case of McCollough v. State of Mary¬ 
land (4 Wheat., 316, 405), declares: 

This Government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. 
The principle that it can exercise only the powers granted to it would seem 
too apparent to have required to be enforced by all those arguments which its 
enlightened friends, while it was depending before the people, found it neces¬ 
sary to urge. That principle is now universally admitted. But the question 
respecting the extent of the powers actually granted is perpetually arising, 
and will probably continue to arise, as long as our system shall exist. 

Iii Houston v. Moore (5 Wheat., 1, 48) Mr. Justice Story says: 

Nor ought any power to be sought, much less to be adjudged, in favor of 
the United States, unless it be clearly within the reach of its constitutional 
charter. Sitting here, we are not at liberty to add one jot of power to the 
National Government beyond what the people have granted by the Constitution. 

(Article 10 of Amendments; City of New York v. Miln, 11 Pet., 
102, 133; License Cases, 5 How., 504, 608, 630; United States v. 
Dewitt, 9 Wall., 41, 44; Patterson r, Kentucky, 97 U. S., 501, 503; 
Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U. S., 27, 31; in re Rahrer, 140 IT. Si, 545, 
555; United States v. Knight, 156 U. S., 1, 11; Cooley’s Constitu¬ 
tional Limitations, 574.) 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


21 


Doubtless it not infrequently happens that the same act may be 
referable to the power of the State as well as to that of Congress. 
If there be collision in such a case, the superior authority of Con¬ 
gress prevails. As said in City of New York v. Miln (11 Pet., 102, 
PIT) : 

From this it appears that whilst a State is acting within the legitimate 
scope of its power as to the end to be attained, it may use whatsoever means, 
being appropriate to that end, it may think tit; although they may be the same, 
or so nearly the same, as scarcely to be distinguishable from those adopted by 
Congress acting under a different power, subject only, say the court, to this 
limitation, that in the event of collision the law of the State must yield to the 
law of Congress. The court must be understood, of course, as meaning that 
the law of Congress is passed upon a subject within the sphere of its power. 

In Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway v. Hatley (158 U. S., 98, 
104) the rule is stated in these words: 

Generally it may be said in respect to laws of this character that, though 
resting upon the police power of the State, they must yield whenever Congress, 
in the exercise of the powers granted to it. legislates upon the precise subject- 
matter, for that power, like all other reserved powers of the States, is subordi¬ 
nate to thole in terms conferred by the Constitution upon the nation. “ No 
urgency for its use can authorize a State to exercise it in regard to a subject- 
matter which has been confided exclusively to the discretion of Congress by 
the Constitution” (Henderson v. New York, 92 U. S., 259, 271.) “Definitions 
of the police power must, however, be taken subject to the condition that the 
State can not, in its exercise, for any purpose whatever, encroach upon the 
powers of the General Government, or rights granted or secured by the supreme 
law of the land.” (New Orleans Gas Co. r. Louisiana Light Co., 115 U. S., 650, 
661.) “ While it may be a police power in the sense that all provisions for the 

health, comfort, and security of the citizens are police regulations, and an exer¬ 
cise of the police power, it has been said more than once in this court that, 
where such powers are so exercised as to come within the domain of federal 
authority as defined by the Constitution, the latter must prevail.” (Morgan v. 
Louisiana, 118 IJ. S., 455, 468.) 

See also Lottery case (188 II. S., 321). 

The question is therefore whether there is any authority conferred 
upon Congress by which this particular portion of the statute can be 
sustained. By section 2 of Article II of the Constitution, power is 
given to the President, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties; but there is no suggestion in the record or 
in the briefs of a treaty with the King of Hungary under which this 
legislation can be supported. 

The general power which exists in the nation to control the coming 
in or removal of aliens is relied upon, the Government stating in its 
brief these two propositions: 

The clause in question should be held valid because it relates to and mate¬ 
rially affects the conditions upon which an alien female may be permitted to 
remain in this country, and the grounds which warrant her exclusion. 

* * * * * * • * 

The validity of the provision in question should be determined from its gen¬ 
eral effect upon the importation and exclusion of aliens. 

But it is sufficient to say that the act charged has no significance in 
either direction. 

As to the suggestion that Congress has power to punish one assist¬ 
ing in the importation of a prostitute, it is enough to say that the 
statute does not include such a charge; the indictment does not make 
it, and the testimony shows, without any contradiction, that the 
woman, Irene Bodi, came to this country in November, 1905; that 


22 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


she remained in New York until October. 1007; then came to Chicago 
and went into the house of prostitution which the defendants pur¬ 
chased in November. 1907, finding the woman then in the house; 
that she had been in the business of a prostitute only about ten or 
eleven months prior to the trial of the case in October, 1908, and 
that the defendants did not know her until November. 1907. In 
view of these facts the question of the power of Congress to punish 
those who assist in the importation of a prostitute is entirely im¬ 
material. 

The act charged is only one included in the great mass of personal 
dealings with aliens. It is her own character and conduct which 
determines the question of exclusion or removal. The acts of others 
may be evidence of her business and character. But it does not follow 
that Congress has the power to punish those whose acts furnish evi¬ 
dence from which the Government may determine the question of her 
expulsion. Every possible dealing of any citizen with the alien may 
have more or less induced her coming. But can it be within the power 
of Congress to control all the dealings of our citizens with resident 
aliens? If that be possible, the door is open to the assumption by the 
National Government of an almost unlimited body of legislation. By 
the census of 1900 the population of the United States between the 
oceans was, in round numbers, 70,000.000. Of these 10,000,000 were 
of foreign birth, and 16,000,000 more were of foreign parentage. 
Doubtless some have become citizens by naturalization, but certainly 
scattered through the country there are millions of aliens. If the con¬ 
tention of the Government be sound, whatever may have been done in 
the past, however little this field of legislation may have been entered 
upon, the power of Congress is broad enough to take cognizance of 
all dealing’s of citizens with aliens. That there is a moral considera¬ 
tion in the special facts of this case, that the act charged is within the 
scope of the police power, is immaterial, for. as stated, there is in the 
Constitution no grant to Congress of the police power. And the 
legislation must stand or fall according to the determination of the 
question of the power of Congress to control generally dealings of 
citizens with aliens. 

In other words, an immense body of legislation, which heretofore 
has been recognized as peculiarly within the jurisdiction of the 
States, may be taken by Congress away from them. Although Con¬ 
gress has not largely entered into this field of legislation, it may do 
so, if it has the power. Then we should be brought face to face with 
such a change in the internal conditions of this country as was never 
dreamed of by the framers of the Constitution. While the acts of 
Congress are to be liberally construed in order to enable it to carry 
into effect the powers conferred, it is equally true that prohibitions 
and limitations upon those powders should also be fairly and reason¬ 
ably enforced. Fairbank v. United States (181 U. S., 283). To 
exaggerate in the one direction and restrict in the other will tend to 
substitute one consolidated government for the present Federal sys¬ 
tem. We should never forget the declaration in Texas v. White 
(7 Wall., 700, 725), that u The Constitution, in all its provisions, 
looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States.” 

The judgments are reversed, and the cases remanded to the district 
court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois with 
instructions to quash the indictment. 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


23 


Appendix C. 


SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


Nos. ,653 and 654. October Term, 1908. 


653. Joseph Keller, plaintiff in error, 


In error to the district 
court of the United 
States for the north¬ 
ern district of Illi¬ 
nois. 


v. 


The United States. 

654. Louis Ullman, plaintiff in error, 
v. 

The United States. 


(April 5, 1909.) 


Mr. Justice Holmes, dissenting. 

. For the purpose of excluding those who unlawfully enter this 
country Congress has power to retain control over aliens long enough 
to make sure of the facts. (Yamatava v. Fisher (Japanese Immi¬ 
grant Case), 189 U. S., 86.) To this end it may make their admis¬ 
sion conditional for three years. (Pearson v. Williams, 202 II. S., 
281.) If the ground of exclusion is their calling, practice of it 
within a short time after arrival is or may be made evidence of what 
it was when they came in. Such retrospective presumptions are not 
always contrary to experience or unknown to the law. (Bailey v. 
Alabama, 211 U. S., 452, 454.) If a woman were found living in a 
house of prostitution within a week of her arrival, no one, I sup¬ 
pose, would doubt that it tended to show that she was in the busi¬ 
ness when she arrived. But how far back such an inference shall 
reach is a question of degree like most of the questions of life. And 
while a period of three years seems to be long, I am not prepared to 
say, against the judgment of Congress, that it is too long. 

The statute does not state the legal theory upon which it was en¬ 
acted. If the ground is that which I have suggested, it is fair to 
observe that the presumption that it creates is not open to rebuttal. 
I should be prepared to accept even that, however, in view of the 
difficulty of proof in such cases. Statutes of which the justification 
must be the same are familiar in the States. For instance, one crea¬ 
ting the offense of being present when gaming implements are found 
(Commonwealth v. Smith, 166 Mass., 370, 375, 376), or punishing 
the sale of intoxicating liquors without regard to knowledge of their 
intoxicating quality (Commonwealth v. Hallett, 103 Mass., 452), or 
throwing upon a seducer the risk of the woman turning out to be 
married or under a certain age. (Commonwealth v. Elwell, 2 Met.. 
190. Beg. v. Prince, L. B. 2 C. C., 154.) 

It is true that in such instances the legislature has power to change 
the substantive law of crimes, and it has been thought that when it 
is said to create a conclusive presumption as to a really disputable 
fact, the proper mode of stating what it does, at least as a general 
rule, is to say that it has changed the substantive law. (2 Wigmore, 
Ev. secs. 1353 et seq.) This may be admitted without denying that 
considerations of evidence are what lead to the change. And if it 
should be thought more philosophical to express this law^ in sub¬ 
stantive terms, I think that Congress may require, as a condition of 



24 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


the right to remain, good behavior for a certain time in matters 
deemed by it important to the public welfare and of a kind that in¬ 
dicates a preexisting habit that would have excluded the party if it 
had been known. Therefore I am of opinion that it is within the 
power of Congress to order the deportation of a woman found prac¬ 
ticing prostitution within three years. 

If Congress can forbid the entry and order the subsequent deporta¬ 
tion of professional prostitutes it can punish those who cooperate in 
their fraudulent entry. “If Congress has power to exclude such 
laborers * * * it has the power to punish any who assist in their 

introduction.” That was a point decided in Lees v. United States 
(150 U. S., 476, 480). The same power must exist as to cooperation 
in an equally unlawful stay. The indictment sets forth the facts 
that constitute such cooperation and need not allege the conclusion of 
law. On the principle of the cases last cited, in order to make its 
prohibition effective, the law can throw the burden of finding out the 
fact and date of a prostitute’s arrival from another country upon 
those who harbor her for a purpose that presumably they know in 
any event to be contrary to law. Therefore, while I have admitted 
that the time fixed seems to me to be long, I can see no other constitu¬ 
tional objection to the act, and, as I have said, I think that that 
one ought not to prevail. 

Mr. Justice Harlan and Mr. Justice Moody concur in this dissent. 

True copy. 

Test: 


Clerk Supreme Court , United States. 


tExtract from statement relative to the work and expenditures of the Immigration Com¬ 
mission, issued February 27, 1909, as Document No. 1489.] 

Appendix D.— Importation for immoral purposes. 

The commission has made an extensive investigation into the 
question of the importation and harboring of women for immoral 
purposes. The results show that many women are being regularly 
imported under conditions which often amount to absolute slavery. 
Until the commission began its inquiry there is every reason to be¬ 
lieve that the practice was rapidly on the increase and was very 
profitable to its promoters. 

Since the beginning of the investigation, and to a considerable ex¬ 
tent as the results of its inquiries and the evidence which it was able 
to put into the hands of the United States district attorney and 
police officials in various places, there has been a noteworthy attack 
upon this business, which has resulted very decidedly in its decrease. 

The United States district attorney of the northern district of 
Illinois writes that he had endeavored at various times to make 
headway against the traffic with little success'. He adds: 

After making some ineffectual attempts to locate these parties, I reached the 
conclusion that without some specially trained force it would be practically 
impossible, with the regular force of the office, to secure successful results. It 
was at this stage of the proceedings that you * * * advised me that 
* * * the agents of the commission, who were at that time collecting data 
and information in this district, would turn the same over to us to use in the 
prosecution. 




WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 25 

As a result of this information many raids and arrests were made 
and prosecutions instituted. The district attorney adds: 

T rom wliat I know of the situation, I am convinced that the prosecutions 
k ave a mos t salutary effect, at least in this district, on a large number of 
offenders who, a few months ago, were actively engaged in the importation of 
alien wopaen and girls for immoral purposes. Some are serving sentences of 
imprisonment, others have forfeited bail and tied, and reliable information 
which comes to me is to the effect that no inconsiderable number have become 
so frightened at the prosecutions that they have abandoned the practice, left 
the city, and gone into other business. * * * 

I think I may safely say that the prosecutions we have conducted have re¬ 
sulted in effectually breaking up the traffic of alien girls, at least in this district 
and for the time being. * * * 

I have always felt that without the aid which the commission was able to 
give us it would have been impossible for us to have accomplished what has 
been done. 

The district attorney sends a list, which will be printed later, of the results 
up to February 3. 1909. This shows many convictions, indictments, some for¬ 
feitures of bail, with one or two cases still pending. 

One interesting fact is that the bail forfeited and paid in the case of one man 
and his wife arrested for the importation and harboring of alien women for 
immoral purposes was considerably more than enough to pay the entire expense 
of this investigation into the white-slave traffic in all parts of the United 
States: that on the subject of alien criminals; that on immigrant aid societies: 
and that on alien seamen and deserters. 

It is believed that as a result of this investigation the commission will be able 
to make recommendations which will put a very decided check upon this hor¬ 
rible -traffic, if. indeed, it will not practically break it up entirely. 

This investigation was practically completed February 1, entirely concluded 
during that month, and a report prepared for consideration by the commission. 


Appendix E. — The white-slave traffic. 

rExtract from the Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, 1008.] 

An international project of arrangement for the suppression of the 
white-slave traffic was, on July 25, 1902. adopted for submission to 
their respective governments by the delegates of the various powers 
represented at the Paris conference, which arrangement was con¬ 
firmed by formal agreement signed at Paris, on May 18, 1904, by the 
Governments of German}". Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Great 
Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Norway, 
and the Swiss Federal Council. This arrangement, after having been 
duly submitted to the Senate, was proclaimed by the President June 
15, 1908, and is printed in full in the report of the Commissioner- 
General of Immigration. The purpose of the arrangement is set 
forth in the preamble, which states that the several governments. 
“ being desirous to assure to women who have attained their majority 
and are subjected to deception or constraint, as well as minor women 
and girls, an efficacious protection against the criminal traffic known 
under the name of ‘ trade in white women’ ( 4 traite des blanches’), 
have resolved to conclude an arrangement with a view to concert 
proper measures to attain this purpose. 

In addition to the amendment above suggested, to penalize the 
importation of women and girls for immoral purposes irrespective 
of whether they are aliens or citizens, it would be highly advan¬ 
tageous in the endeavor to break up the white-slave traffic to make it 
a felony or misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for an alien 
once deported from the United States as a procurer of prostitutes 



26 


WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


or as a prostitute to again return to the United States, and the alien 
to be deported at the expiration of the term of imprisonment. 

It is highly necessary that this diabolical traffic, which has attained 
international proportions, should be dealt Avith in a manner adequate 
to compass its suppression. No punishment is too severe to inflict 
upon the procurers in this vile traffic. Under the terms of the 
arrangement, I have designated, as the authority which will be 
directed to centralize all information provided for therein, the Com¬ 
missioner-General of Immigration, A\ r ith a right to correspond 
directly with similar services established in each of the other con¬ 
tracting States. 

In administering the laAv the department is frequently embar¬ 
rassed by the fact that an alien woman of the immoral class refused 
admission at a port or arrested Avithin the country for deportation 
may, by marrying an American citizen, iiwest herself AA T ith his status 
and defeat the purpose of the laAv. To overcome this difficulty it 
will be necessary to add to the naturalization act a provision that 
the marriage of an alien Avoman to an American citizen shall not be 
regarded as conferring upon such Avoman the rights and jirmleges 
of citizenship in this country unless she is a person of good moral 
character. 


Appendix F. 


[Extract from the Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the fiscal 
year ended June 30, 1907.1 

A subject closely related to the foregoing is the importation of 
women and girls for immoral purposes. This Avas among the first 
of the immigration evils to engage the attention of Congress, a section 
of the act of 1875 being devoted thereto. Its importance has in¬ 
creased in due proportion to the groAvth of immigration itself, and 
no small part of the duties of the service has consisted in trying to 
prevent the importation and to effect the deportation of such persons 
and their procurers. There can be no denying the assertion that 
apparently, and on the suface at least, there has been in recent years 
a marked decrease in this nefarious business, so appropriately termed 
the “ white-slave traffic.” Eeports reach the bureau from all quar¬ 
ters. foreign and domestic, indicating that the combined efforts of 
those abroad and in this country interested in Aviping out the dis¬ 
graceful blot upon our Christian civilization have accomplished con¬ 
siderable. But the bureau is satisfied, from the experience of its 
field officers, that much still remains .to be done. The number of for¬ 
eign prostitutes and procurers or importers of prostitutes being 
detected and deported (see Table III A, p. 12) furnishes incontro¬ 
vertible evidence on this point. Some especially good Avork has been 
done in several of the Western States, notably Montana. In this 
respect, also, the neAv immigration act (secs. 2 and 3) is a decided 
improvement over the old. and places in the hands of the bureau a 
weapon Avith Avhieh it hopes to make an energetic and effective fight. 
The bureau believes that this provision for the cure of existing evils 
should be supplemented by a preventive measure which it here sug¬ 
gests: A number of thoroughly qualified Avomen, equipped Avith a 
sufficient knoAvledge of foreign languages, should be selected and 



WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 


27 


appointed for service on the vessels of several of the larger steam¬ 
ship lines, their duty being to travel from foreign ports on the vessels 
with the alien women, mixing freely with them, forming their 
acquaintance, and gathering every available bit of information con¬ 
cerning their antecedents and their purposes and hopes in coming 
to America. Thus could be gained, it is believed, often accurately 
and in detail, data which could be placed before boards of special 
inquiry upon arrival at the United States ports, enabling such boards 
to pass intelligently upon the admissibility of the alien women. 

Of course, the greatest care would have to be exercised in selecting 
women for positions of such responsibility. Doubtless the steamship 
lines would consent to such an arrangement, and the cost involved 
would be inconsiderable as against the importance of the object in 
view. Little or nothing, comparatively, can be accomplished by an 
inspection of, and intermixture with, the female steerage passengers 
after the vessels reach quarantine stations on our coasts—the period 
from that time till landing is too limited—but under the arrange¬ 
ment suggested the time would be ample for women possessing the 
requisite qualifications of mind, heart, and temperament to ascertain 
much of interest regarding the passengers among whom the would 
mingle. 


Appendix G. 

I Extract from Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the fiscal 
year ended June :>(). 1008.] 

Reference to Tables III and III A will show that during the past 
year there has been great activity on the part of the bureau in the 
suppression of the importation of alien women for purposes of pros¬ 
titution or “ other immoral purposes.” The first table shows that of 
prostitutes and women coming for other immoral purposes 124 have 
been rejected at the ports, and of procurers of prostitutes 43. Table 
IIIA shows that 44 alien prostitutes and 2 procurers have been de¬ 
ported from the country, and the bureau’s fifes show that 14 pro¬ 
curers and keepers of houses of ill fame have been convicted and 
sentenced to terms of imprisonment and fines, the sentence in 4 
cases being imprisonment for from one to five years and in the 
remaining 10 both imprisonment and fine, ranging from six months 
to eighteen months and from $50 to $1,000. The law now in force 
is a great improvement over former immigration laws, both in its 
provisions with respect to the exclusion and expulsion of immoral 
alien women and in the penalties it attaches to importing or har¬ 
boring alien prostitutes or alien women similarly immoral, or placing 
in houses of ill fame alien women who have entered this country with 
the intent to lead lives of virtue. Not only is the law, by the terms 
in which enacted, made much broader than heretofore, but, fortu¬ 
nately, the first case brought in the courts to test its scope was carried 
up to the Supreme Court, and a decision sustaining the Government’s 
contention for a construction of the broadest possible kind has been 
handed down. Reference is had to the case of United States v. John 
Bitty (208 U. S., 393), in which the Supreme Court held that a for¬ 
eign woman being brought to the United States as the personal, 
private mistress of a man living here was being imported “ for other 



28 WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 

immoral purposes,” and that therefore the importer was subject to 
the penalty of the statute and the woman to deportation. 

Early in the year a circular of special instructions with respect 
to the arrest and deportation of immoral alien women was issued, and 
a systematic campaign having that object in view has been inaugu¬ 
rated. Already, as shown by the figures given, good results are 
being attained, and it is confidently expected that much more will be 
accomplished hereafter. One of the greatest difficulties encountered 
is the fact that most women brought into this country as “white 
slaves ” are carefully instructed by their masters to make no damag¬ 
ing admissions with regard to the date of their arrival or the name 
under which the ocean passage was booked, and to claim always that 
the date of arrival was more than three years previously, three years 
being the limit of time fixed in the law within which deportation 
may be effected. To partly overcome this plan to block ascertain¬ 
ment of the actual date of arrival of such persons and disprove their 
fictitious claims, the department felt justified in holding that, if an 
immoral woman refuses to furnish the correct date of arrival and the 
name under which she traveled, it will be assumed for adminis¬ 
trative purposes that she arrived within the three-year period, and 
unless she disproves such presumption of fact deportation will follow. 
This is having a good effect. What will do more than anything else 
to break up the nefarious barter in humanity will be securing, in the 
large centers particularly, a few such sentences in the cases of the 
procurers as that given David Rokoff by District Judge Morris, of 
Baltimore. Rokoff was shown to be an outrageous violator of the 
law regarding procuring and holding alien women to prostitution, 
and the judge, promptly upon the return of a verdict of guilty, pro¬ 
nounced a sentence of five years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary. 

Several of the immigration officials who were detailed abroad 
during the year reported that the white-slave traffic was flourishing 
between European and North and South American countries, and tha 
it was a matter of regret that the United States had not yet become a 
party to the agreement between the leading European countries for 
cooperation in the breaking up of the traffic. On June 6, 1908, how¬ 
ever, the President, on behalf of the United States, proclaimed said 
agreement, the text of which is as follows, the countries signatory 
being Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, 
Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Norway, and 
Switzerland. 


O 























































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